Gig Young

Birth name Byron Elsworth BarrNationalityUSABirth 4 november 1913 at St. Cloud (USA)Death 19 october 1978 (at 64 years) at New York City (USA)Awards Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Gig Young (November 4, 1913 – October 19, 1978) was an American film, stage, and television actor. Known mainly for second leads and supporting roles, Young won an Academy Award for his performance as a slimy dance-marathon emcee in the 1969 film They Shoot Horses, Don't They? An alcoholic, Young was implicated in the murder-suicide which resulted in the deaths of him and his wife in 1978.

Biography

Young was married five times; his first marriage to Sheila Stapler lasted seven years, ending in 1947. In 1950, he married Sophie Rosenstein, the resident drama coach at Paramount, who was several years Young's senior. She was soon diagnosed with cancer, and died just short of two years after the couple's wedding. After her death, Young was engaged to actress Elaine Stritch.

He met actress Elizabeth Montgomery after she appeared in an episode of Warner Bros. Presents in 1956, and the two married later that year. In 1963, Montgomery divorced Young because of his alcoholism.

Young married his fourth wife, real estate agent Elaine Williams, nine months after his divorce from Montgomery was final. Williams was pregnant with Young's child at the time and gave birth to his only child, Jennifer, in April 1964. After three years of marriage, the couple divorced. During a legal battle over child support with Williams, Young denied that Jennifer was his biological child. After five years of court battles, Young lost his case.

On September 27, 1978, Young, age 64, married his fifth wife, a 31-year-old German magazine editor named Kim Schmidt. He met Schmidt in Hong Kong while working on Game of Death.

Young's daughter Jennifer was allegedly a close friend and roommate of Heidi Fleiss, the so-called "Hollywood Madam". Jennifer has denied allegations that she was ever a sex worker for Fleiss, yet was a co-author of the book Hooking Up: You'll Never Make Love In This Town Again AGAIN, which was a sequel book that claims to have vetted information on some Hollywood stars paying hookers for sex.

, 1h38Directed byClive DonnerOriginUSAGenresHorrorThemesDemons in filmActorsRobert Culp, Gig Young, John Hurt, James Villiers, Gordon Jackson, Majel BarrettRoles Dr. Ham HamiltonRating63% William Sebastian (Robert Culp) is a former criminologist who now studies the occult to explain the problem of human evil. He has been cursed on one of his adventures by the demon Asmodeus, leaving him in constant need of medical attention. He summons an old colleague, Dr. "Ham" Hamilton (Gig Young) to his home to help him with a case involving the Cyon family. Dr. Hamilton does not believe in the occult and thinks that Sebastian and his housekeeper Lilith (Majel Barrett) are playing tricks on him when he witnesses unusual events.

, 1h51Directed bySam PeckinpahOriginUSAGenresThriller, Action, Spy, CrimeThemesSpy films, Seafaring films, Transport films, Yakuza films, Gangster filmsActorsJames Caan, Robert Duvall, Burt Young, Arthur Hill, Bo Hopkins, Gig YoungRoles Lawrence WeyburnRating60% Mike Locken (James Caan) and George Hansen (Robert Duvall) are best friends and private contractors for a private intelligence agency, Communications Integrity or ComTeg, which handles covert assignments for the CIA. At the beginning of the film, Locken and Hansen are helping an East European defector, Vorodny (Helmut Dantine) escape. After delivering the defector to other ComTeg operatives, Locken and Hansen throw a wild party to relax. The next day, they go to a ComTeg safehouse to relieve other agents who have been guarding Vorodny, the defector they previously helped escape.

, 2hDirected bySydney PollackOriginUSAGenresDrama, ThrillerThemesDance films, Films about suicideActorsJane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Gig Young, Susannah York, Red Buttons, Bonnie BedeliaRoles RockyRating78% Robert Syverton (Michael Sarrazin), who once dreamed of being a great film director, recalls the events leading to an unstated crime. In his youth, he saw a horse break its leg, after which it was shot and put out of its misery. Years later, in 1932 during the Great Depression, he wanders into a dance marathon about to begin in the shabby La Monica Ballroom, perched over the Pacific Ocean on the Santa Monica Pier, near Los Angeles. He is recruited by MC (Master of Ceremonies) Rocky (Gig Young) as a substitute partner for a cynical malcontent named Gloria (Jane Fonda), when her original partner is disqualified because of an ominous cough.

, 1h40Directed byNorman LloydOriginUSAGenresDramaActorsMelvyn Douglas, Gig Young, Anne Baxter, Leslie Nielsen, Patrick O'Neal, Dana WynterRoles Eric NicholsonRating72% Dr. Lawrence Strelson (Melvyn Douglas) is a famous psychiatrist who conducts a group-therapy session with several high-priced professionals. It turns out that one of the patients is a murderer; the truth will come out, and it will be a shocker. Among the special guest suspects are Eric Nicholson (Gig Young), Carlotta Mauridge (Anne Baxter), Jeremy Siddack (Patrick O'Neal), Julie Klanton (Dana Wynter) and Dr. Neesden (Leslie Nielsen).

, 1h39Directed byDavid GreeneOriginUnited-kingdomGenresDrama, HorrorThemesFilms based on works by H. P. LovecraftActorsGig Young, Carol Lynley, Oliver Reed, Flora Robson, Charles Lloyd-Pack, Bernard KayRoles Mike KeltonRating63% Susannah Kelton, a newly married twentysomething who was raised in foster care in the big city, learns that her real parents have only recently died and left all of their property to her. She and her husband, Mike, travel to the island of Dunwich off the coast of Massachusetts to inspect the property. They find a local culture that is clannish, backward and ignorant. The few friends they make amongst the locals, including Susannah's Aunt Agatha, warn them that the family mill is cursed and urge the Keltons to leave immediately and never look back. Refusing to bow to superstition, the Keltons consider rehabilitating the abandoned mill. They become the target of a gang of local thugs led by Susannah's lecherous cousin, Ethan. Their reign of terror is ended by something still living in the shuttered attic room of the mill, something that caused Susannah nightmares as a child.